Ivory Coast has begun a vaccination programme against Ebola after the country confirmed its first case since 1994, the health ministry says.
It said the family of the infected teenager and health workers involved were the first to be given the jab.
Health official Serge Ehole said on Monday that they planned to have vaccinated by Wednesday “all the 2,000 people that we consider exposed from the community, and also people from the health system and security”.
The infected teenager tested positive on Saturday after arriving in the commercial hub, Abidjan, on a bus from neighbouring Guinea.
Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.
In other News: Ivory Coast confirms avian flu cases in the south
Ivory Coast has confirmed the discovery of avian influenza cases in the south-east of the country.
The cases were detected in a traditional poultry farm in Mondoukou, a locality in the Grand-Bassam area.
Local authorities said they had already taken measures to counter the spread of the highly infectious avian influenza strain A/H5N1 virus, according to a statement
It said the area where the cases were detected had been declared a protected zone and more results of a surveillance on the outbreak was to be expected in 21 days.
The authorities have also enforced other sanitary measures by closing markets and other places where poultry is sold, as well as prohibited the processing, transportation, distribution and sale of poultry products.
The poultry industry in Ivory Coast was affected in 2006, 2015 and 2017 by the resurgence of the avian influenza virus.
Read Also: Facebook confirms ban of Taliban-related content
Source: BBC
